


Taking Care

by ElAlmaDelMar



Series: A/B/O/tober 2020 [26]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Friends With Benefits, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Multi, Tagged as underage cause Luffy and Usopp are 17
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:34:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27220540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElAlmaDelMar/pseuds/ElAlmaDelMar
Summary: "You helped Zoro through his heat, right?  That's a mates kind of thing…""Nah, nah." Luffy shakes his head emphatically.  "I just helped, that's all! Nakama should help each other."A/B/O/tober Day 26: Platonic caretaking/assistance during heat/rut
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Roronoa Zoro, Roronoa Zoro/Sanji, Sanji & Nami, Sanji/Usopp
Series: A/B/O/tober 2020 [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947415
Comments: 12
Kudos: 144
Collections: A/B/O/tober 2020





	Taking Care

So, it goes like this. 

The first time someone hits their cycle among the Strawhat crew, it's Nami. Not long after they leave Cocoyashi village, she refuses to come out of the "women's quarters" (which she has to herself anyway) one morning, and yells at Usopp through the door that he should leave her alone, everyone smells way too much and she hates it. 

She's relaxed a lot since Arlong's defeat — even though it's only been a few days, the difference is staggering. She's actually a part of them now, not just using Luffy and Zoro as manipulated muscle, and so the rejection stings a little. But Usopp, omega that he is, gets nearly bowled over by the wave of alpha scent that creeps out from under the door, and he knows on the other side that his scent isn't comfortable for her so close. So he scrambles away, and heads to the galley to let Sanji know that Nami won't be joining them for breakfast. 

It's almost disappointingly predictable that Sanji is at her door with a covered tray in hand not ten minutes later, swirling his way there with a liquid grace that makes him look nearly as boneless and flexible as Luffy. Usopp trails after him, mostly out of a sense of curiosity — how badly is Nami going to eviscerate their cook for ignoring her instructions? 

But to his surprise, Sanji doesn't try to get the door open or to peep through the keyhole. Instead, he knocks briefly on the door, and then speaks up without waiting for a response. 

"Na~mi~swan! I'm leaving a breakfast for you just outside the door! It's got an herbal tea that should help ease your rut, and nothing's heavily spiced since you said your sense of smell is extra sensitive. Please enjoy! You can just leave the dishes outside your door and I'll collect them later!" 

Without waiting for an answer, he backs away from the door — even more than Usopp's omega scent, the scent of another alpha so close will surely be uncomfortable for her. 

But before he leaves, they both hear through the door— 

"Sanji, thank you."

* * *

It also goes like this. 

Zoro's their swordsman, their strong rock. He's also an omega. His heats strike four times a year, and they are just as brutal and uncompromising as everything else about him. 

The first time he goes into heat, it's on _Merry_ , and it's a disaster. They have a storage room designated for anyone who needs to isolate during their cycle, but Zoro's heat is so intense that even locked up belowdecks, his scent permeates the ship. Sanji and Nami are both visibly all but vibrating out of their skins, and even Luffy, who has seemed all but immune to biology until now, is jumpy, irritable, prone to unpredictable bursts of jagged aggression that leave him blinking in confusion. Chopper doesn't seem to have a secondary gender, but his nose is by far the most sensitive aboard, and he can barely breathe from the strength of Zoro's smell. He climbs up to the crow's nest, as far away as he can get. 

Omegas don't tend to get aggressive over each other's pheromones the way alphas do, but Usopp's a mess of competing instinct nonetheless. Part of him desperately craves the attention of any of the alphas on the ship, part of him wants to go tend to Zoro as a fellow part of their pack, part of him wants to just hide until it's all over. 

Finally, after they all struggle through lunch — even with Sanji's tremendous cooking, it's just hard to find any food appetizing when all anyone can smell is desperate omega — Luffy squares his shoulders and makes a decision. 

"I'm gonna go down with him," he says. While his tone is decisive, it's rare for him to simply announce intentions like that — Usopp thinks Luffy might, in a way, be asking if his intention is actually a good idea. 

Robin nods slowly. "... It might help," she says, "if he wants it from you. Some omegas scent particularly strongly if they don't have a heat partner." She's traveled with plenty of others; she knows more about these things than the rest of them. 

Luffy doesn't come back for post-lunch snack, or mid-afternoon big snack, or pre-dinner snack, or dinner — when Sanji lays out the meal for Usopp, Nami, and Robin without their captain barrelling in to demand his share, they exchange glances, understanding very well what's going on. The scent of Zoro's heat has been diminishing through the afternoon. 

"Robin-chuan, it looks like you were right," Sanji says, his normal flirtatiousness diminished with the struggle for self-control in the face of the pheromonal onslaught. A pause, and then, "... Oi. Usopp. I'm gonna make up a tray for you to take down to them." 

"Why me?" 

"Because, dumbass, if Luffy's still down there with him, he's not gonna want another alpha sniffing around. You won't read like a threat if he's off his head with hormones. Besides, I'm gonna take Chopper's tray up to him, and tell him he can maybe come down out of the crow's nest finally." 

It's a good idea, actually, and Usopp says so. Sanji grins, satisfied.

* * *

When Zoro and Luffy reappear, five whole days later — five days of lingering heat scents all over the ship, far less intense but still very much present — they say nothing at first of the past several days. Luffy makes a beeline for Sanji, proclaiming his hunger, and Sanji kicks him away, cursing, and tells him to go wash before he inflicts himself on anyone else. 

Usopp knows they're all curious, and decides he might as well be the one to broach the topic. "So… are you two like, _together_ now?" 

Zoro goes scarlet, but Luffy only turns a blank look on Usopp and picks his nose. "Huh?" 

"I mean…" Usopp gestures, hopefully in a way that explains rather than obfuscates the topic. "You helped Zoro through his heat, right? That's a mates kind of thing…" 

"Nah, nah." Luffy shakes his head emphatically. "I just helped, that's all! Nakama should help each other."

* * *

Sanji, the self-sacrificing idiot he is, trying to keep working right through his rut. 

Unsurprisingly, it doesn't go well. 

At breakfast, he's twitchy and smells _off_ ; by lunch, he's swaying on his feet and reeks to high heaven. Even so, he's cooked to his usual high standard, and he's still doing his best to serve them all. He lays out the table, pours drinks, and looks like he's about to collapse. 

"Oi, cook," Zoro says, standing up from his seat. "Come on." 

"What?" Sanji stares at him in confusion, too addled to get properly insulting. "What are you—" 

"Come on," Zoro repeats, and reaches out to snag Sanji's wrist. At the touch of skin on skin, Sanji draws in a sharp breath. "Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. You reek of rut. I'll help you through it if you want, but stop tryin' to pretend like nothing's wrong." 

Sanji tries to twist his wrist out of Zoro's grip and fails. "Hey! I still need to make—" 

"No you don't. The rest of the crew can manage dinner. Luffy's a disaster, sure, but some people here were actually getting by okay before they met you, you know? Come _on_ and get your rutty stench out of everyone's face." 

Sanji looks like he wants to keep objecting, but Robin chimes in with support. 

"Go ahead, Sanji." The use of his name catches him off-guard, visibly so — she's only just starting to really use names instead of titles, now that the nightmare of Enies Lobby is behind them — and Sanji stops struggling against Zoro. "We'll be just fine, and it'll be easier on us knowing you're well taken care of." 

Usopp's not entirely sure that whatever Zoro and Sanji are going to be doing down in the cycle room counts as being _well taken care of_ , but Sanji's not about to argue with one of the women of the crew, and he allows Zoro to lead him away.

* * *

Usopp's own heats aren't usually so bad. He still spends the three- or four-day stretches in the cycle room, restless and overheated and lonely, but compared with Zoro's brutal five-day marathon cycles, he figures he's pretty lucky. 

Then a bad one hits. He's down in the cycle room, tossing and turning, desperate for relief. There's only so many times you can masturbate in four days before it just hurts instead of helping, so with what little rational thought he's got left, he's trying to pace himself. But it's hard; he rolls over, presses himself against the mattress — _Sunny_ has a real cycle room, with a bed sized for multiple people and a small bathroom all its own — and rolls his hips, groaning. 

There's a knock at the door, and he raises his head to sniff. 

Alpha. Sanji. 

"Oi, Usopp," he hears the cook call. "D'you want some company? This smells like worse than your usual." 

Sanji's willing to help him? Usopp's heart leaps. Of course he'd like an alpha's company right now! 

He pushes himself up on shaky legs and groans, then staggers to the door "Coming, coming…" His tongue feels thick in his mouth, hard to control, but he makes it to the door and opens it, blinking hazy-eyed at Sanji. "...You really want to? I thought you… um…" 

Sanji's smile makes him want to fling himself into the alpha's arms immediately. (That's just the heat talking, he knows, but all the same…) "Romance is something else," he says, kind as anything. "But nakama take care of each other, right? Lemme help you out a little." 

That's all Usopp wants, really — despite what stupid heat brain wants to say, he's not in love with Sanji. But Sanji coming down to help him — oh, he's happy about that. 

A few blissful hours later, with Usopp feeling _quite a lot_ better, Sanji rolls out of bed regretfully. "I've gotta go get dinner going," he says, stretching himself before reaching for his discarded clothing. "D'you want me to come back in a bit? Or see if Luffy will come down and help you out?" 

"Either's fine," Usopp says, enjoying the lassitude of having been quite thoroughly _taken care of_. His heat isn't over by a long shot, but he should be able to rest for at least couple hours before the need gets bad again. "Anyone ever tell you you're good at that, Sanji?" 

Sanji grins, boyish and sweet. "I do my best. I like taking care of people, after all." 

"Mm. Lucky me." 

Lucky all of them, really. Good nakama take good care of each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so it's maybe not _entirely_ platonic. 
> 
> Come chat with me on my [Discord server](https://discord.gg/SWVYBBn)!


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